SOFI vs IBKR Comparison

SoFi is a financial-services company that was founded in 2011 and is based in San Francisco. Initially known for its student loan refinancing business, the company has expanded its product offerings to include personal loans, credit cards, mortgages, investment accounts, banking services, and financial planning. The company intends to be a one-stop shop for its clients' finances and operates solely through its mobile app and website. Through its acquisition of Galileo in 2020, the company also offers payment and account services for debit cards and digital banking.

Interactive Brokers is a large, automated, retail and institutional brokerage that boasted nearly $570 billion in customer equity at the end of 2024. The company cut its teeth as a market maker, introducing US financial markets to automated and algorithmic training before expanding into brokerage services in 1993. The firm has a wide-ranging client base, with its best-in-class order execution and extremely low margin lending rates catering to a sophisticated audience of hedge funds, proprietary traders, and introducing brokers that account for about 45% of the firm's commissions. With operations spanning more than 160 electronic exchanges, 36 countries, and 28 currencies, Interactive Brokers caters to a global clientele, with more than 80% of active accounts sitting outside the US.